Ulrich Sonnenberger

Ulrich Sonnenberger (* in Öhringen in Württemberg; † December 29, 1469 in Vienna ) was named Ulrich III. Bishop of Gurk and first prince-bishop of Gurk.

Life

Ulrich Sonnenberger was born in Württemberg and was of middle-class origin. From 1425 he studied at the University of Vienna and in 1435 he was given the parish of Hadres by Pope Eugene IV . In 1442 he also became canon in Passau. Soon afterwards he traveled as the envoy of King Frederick III. to Pope Eugene IV to negotiate the convening of a council in a German city. On November 7th he was received in audience. His embassy brought no results, but he gained the highest favor for himself. In 1443 he received the parish of Rußbach in Lower Austria and the provost office of St. Jakob in Regensburg .

In 1444 Sonnenberger was in the suite of Friedrich III. at the Reichstag in Nuremberg . As a result, he also served as an assessor at the royal court until 1465. Again and again he was entrusted by the king with delicate diplomatic missions and in 1452 he took part in the imperial coronation of Frederick III in Rome. part. He was also a member of the deputation that Frederick's bride Eleonore of Portugal was sent to receive in Livorno .

Grave of Bishops Sonnenberger and Schallermann in Strasbourg

It was thanks to the favor of Kaiser Friedrich that Sonnenberger was appointed Bishop of Gurk on November 4, 1453 by Pope Nikolaus V. The emperor's original plan to promote Sonnenberger to the vacated bishopric of Passau in 1451 failed due to the resistance of the cathedral chapter. On January 20, 1454, Sonnenberger was consecrated in Gurk Cathedral by the Seckau Bishop Georg Überacker . In October of the same year he appeared at the Reichstag in Frankfurt to deal with the Turkish question as imperial envoy. In the same year he was promoted to the imperial council and from 1457 also held the office of Austrian chancellor. In the year 1460 the Emperor Sonnenberger granted the right in the Bulla aurea that he was to count as prince immediately to the imperial princes and from then on he could call himself and his successors prince-bishops. However, it was only an honorary title and not an imperial prince in the constitutional sense, since the Gurk bishop did not receive his regalia from the emperor. On December 6, 1461, Sonnenberger was present in Graz when Emperor Friedrich issued the letter of foundation for the establishment of the Diocese of Laibach .

Like his predecessor Schallermann , Sonnenberger campaigned for the canonization of Hemma von Gurk ; on January 3, 1466, the Pope set up a commission to conduct the process. On July 30, 1468, however, the bishop and the emperor were informed that the proceedings had to be postponed due to important business and the plague epidemic in Rome.

Bishop Sonnenberger had the collegiate church in Strasbourg completed, for the expansion of which he made generous financial resources available in 1462. In the autumn of 1469 the bishop gave up his duties as imperial chancellor and died on December 29, 1469 in Vienna. He was buried in the collegiate church in Strasbourg next to his predecessor, Schallermann.

literature

• Jakob Obersteiner: The bishops of Gurk. 1072-1822 . Verlag des Geschichtsverein für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1969, ( From Research and Art 5, ISSN  0067-0642 ), pp. 233–248.